Just hours before it hit, he told viewers there was “no hurricane on the way” and urged them “not to worry”.

He said: “…The weather will become very windy, but most of the strong winds, incidentally, will be down over Spain and across into France.”

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Hurricane Ophelia is due to hit the UK exactly 30 years after the 1987 Great Storm

Mr Fish came under intense criticism in the aftermath of the storm, but he has claimed the hurricane he was referring to in his broadcast was a storm off the coast of Florida, not the UK.

Ophelia is not predicted to be nearly as severe as the Great Storm, but current estimates would make it similar in strength to Tropical Storm Grace, which struck in 2009, and ex-hurricane Gordon, in 2006.

Powerful winds of up more than 80mph were recorded in the worst-hit regions.

Met Office spokesman Grahame Madge said: “We are expecting conditions to turn unsettled at the state of next week.

NOAA

Hurricane Ophelia is predicted by the NOAA to make landfall early on Monday

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Michael Fish and The Met Office failed to predict the 1987 Great Storm which killed 22 people

“Later on Monday there is suggestion that a low-pressure system derived from Ophelia will arrive off the southwest coast of Ireland; that is likely to bring wet and windy conditions to Britain.

“Its effect will depend on the track and there are several variations at present, some show it following a central path across the British Isles while others show it heading further north.”

The NOAA National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned Ophelia is still strengthening and could become a fully-fledged hurricane over the next couple of days.

The NHC said: “Ophelia has become better organised during the past several hours, with convective banding now wrapping almost all of the way around the centre.